Past Meets Future: The Lightning Theif
by DragonEyeLiz
Summary: The Fates send twelve demigods back in time to the Winter Solstice of 2000. What happens when they read the books with the gods? Can they create a better world and prevent the deaths of many demigods? Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO
1. Chapter 1

Annabeth stared down at her picture. Tears fell and blurred the colors, but after carrying it around for four months, it was already battered. "Percy…" she muttered. Piper placed a comforting hand on Annabeth's back, and then glared hard at the three boys sitting awkwardly off to the side. Nico, Leo, and Jason tried to look anywhere but back at Piper. She opened her mouth to scold them, but a bright white light engulfed the five, interrupting Piper's charmspeak.

Thalia crouched low behind the bush. She had been on this scent for days, and was starting to get discouraged. If she couldn't even find this stupid monster, would she ever be able to find her missing friend, Percy Jackson? He face contorted into a scowl. She stood to signal the other Hunters to keep moving, but before she could, a white light flashed, and Thalia was gone.

Frank and Hazel sat on the edge of the Argo II, swinging their legs over the side and sharing a pastry. It was their second day on the ship. Hazel gazed across the sky and took another bite of the fruit tart. Frank kissed her on the cheek and started to say something to her but a white light, like the flash of a camera, engulfed the two, and they vanished. All that was left was the half eaten fruit tart.

Percy Jackson couldn't be happier. After eight long months, he had Annabeth and his memory back. He stood at the front of the Argo II watching the sun rise and waiting for Annabeth to wake up. He smiled and thought that his luck couldn't be better. A split second later, a blinding light surrounded him, interrupting his beautiful morning.

"All I'm saying is since Percy Jackson has ignored his praetorship and run off with a bunch of _graecus_, we must elect someone must take his place! I, being the wonderful Roman legionary and augur that I am, would gladly run in the election." Octavian smiled, a little out of breath from his mini-rant. Reyna rubbed her temples. Octavian had been trying for two hours to convince the council to hold a late election and make him a praetor. It was giving Reyna a headache. She stood. "That is enough, Octavian. It is strictly against the rules to elect a praetor after the Feast of Fortuna. Percy was raised as a praetor and-" Two white lights cut off Reyna's speech. When they faded, the praetor and the augur had disappeared.

It was a typical Winter Solstice on Olympus. Persephone and Demeter were arguing about cereal. Apollo and Hermes tried to crack a joke, but were both slapped by Artemis. Athena and Ares were arguing about who the better war god is. Dionysus was reading his wine magazine. Aphrodite was trying to convince Hephaestus to make her more magic jewelry. Hades was sitting in the 'guest chair' in the corner, grumbling about how unfair it was. Poseidon and Zeus were arguing over who had the best powers.

"Well, since I have the sky, I get all the birds," Zeus stated smugly.

Poseidon laughed. "That may be, brother. But I have fish _and _horses. Beat that, you-" Five blinding white lights flashed in the throne room of the gods. The screams of twelve demigods echoed across Olympus. Zeus, thinking fast, snapped his fingers and a couch appeared out of thin air. Eleven of the twelve landed safely on the couch. One unlucky demigod, a boy with black wind-blown hair, landed face first on the cold ground. The Olympians looked at the boy with pity, sure that he must be dead.

"Ow…" the boy groaned. "Gods, that hurt…" Another white light flashed and a box with a note attached fell on his head. "Dammit!" he yelled louder. He pushed himself into a sitting position and looked at two demigods on the couch. One was a girl with dark brown hair and mocha skin. The other was a Chinese boy, with a baby face that didn't really match his large frame. "How come you guys landed on the couch and I didn't?"

The boy smirked. "I guess we're just cool like that"

Farther down at the end of the couch, a girl with blonde curly hair and a tear-streaked face looked up suddenly. "Percy…?" she muttered, as if in a trance.

"Yeah?" the dark-haired boy, Percy, answered. "I'm here"

"Sort-of," laughed a younger boy with jet black hair.

Percy turned to glare at the boy, just in time to see the blonde crash into him.

"Percy, I missed you so much!" she said through the hug.

"Um, yeah, Annabeth, I missed you too," Percy replied, looking confused.

The blonde, Annabeth, looked upset. "Wh-what's wrong?"

"Um, nothing I guess." Percy scratched the back of his neck. "I mean, it's only been, like four hours since I saw you."

"What?" It was Annabeth's turn to look confused. "Percy, what's today's date?"

"June twenty-sixth."

"No, it's March."

"No, it's June."

"No," interrupted Apollo. "It's December twenty-first, 2000." All the demigods turned to look at the Olympians with confused looks, as if they just noticed the fifteen-foot tall gods.

Zeus cleared his throat. "The package?" he said, gesturing to the brown bow with the note. Percy lifted the box off the ground and began to read:

**Dear confused gods and demigods,**

** We, the Fates, have sent these twelve demigods back in time, in hopes to create a new dimension with a better future. In this box you will find seven books. No one is allowed to leave until all seven have been read. Time outside of the throne room will remain paused while you read. The demigods will all give their names and any other information they volunteer. NO killing or maiming the heroes.**

** Sincerely, The Fates.**

Percy opened the box, pulled out the first book, and began to flip through it. He paled.

"Oh, no," he said. "I think this is in my point of view…"

Two demigods at the end of the couch, a girl with black spiky hair and a silver circlet, and the younger boy with the jet-black hair, looked at each other and said, "Blackmail." Percy groaned.

The blonde, Annabeth, stood and said, "We'd better introduce ourselves. I'll go first. I'm Annabeth Chase, Architect of Olympus."

A girl with choppy brown hair and a Cherokee complexion stood. "I'm Piper Mclean."

The blonde boy next to her said, "I'm Jason Grace."

"I'm Leo Valdez," said the mischievous-looking boy next to Jason.

The boy next to Leo looked up. "Nico DiAngelo."

"Thalia Grace, Lieutenant of the Hunt." Artemis smiled, and then frowned, wondering what happened to Zoe.

"I am Reyna, praetor of Rome, Twelfth Legion Fulmatia."

"Wait!" yelled Hera. "What are Greeks doing with Romans?"

"You'll find out, Queen Hera," Annabeth spit the words at the goddess.

"Octavian," said a smug-looking boy next to Reyna. "Augur of Rome."

"I'm Hazel Levesque." Hades' eyes widened as he looked at his once-dead daughter.

The boy next to her spoke. "Frank Zhang."

The dark-haired boy on the floor stood. "I'm Percy Jackson, Hero of Olympus. Who's gonna read first?"


	2. Chapter 2

After much debate, and a few convincing kisses from Annabeth, Percy decided to let her read, disappointing Athena, who loved to read. He sat down on the end of the couch next to Frank and Hazel, with Annabeth cuddled up next to him.

**Chapter one: I Accidentally Vaporize my Pre-Algebra Teacher**

Thalia started laughing. Frank looked at Percy and asked, "Seriously?" Percy shrugged.

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

Nico rolled his eyes. "No shit, Sherlock."

"LANGUAGE!" yelled Piper.

**If your reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:**

"Duck and cover!" Thalia yelled, as she and Nico dove behind the couch, and then slowly rose up so that only their eyes were showing.

"Why?" asked a very confused Apollo.

"Percy's about to-" Nico shuddered, "give advice!"

Percy rolled his eyes and motioned to Annabeth to keep reading.

**close this book right now. Believe whatever lie you mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

"Not bad, Seaweed Brain," whispered Annabeth.

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

The gods proceeded to look anywhere but at their demigod children.

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think its fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

Leo laughed. "You make it sound like to FBI is after you, or something!"

Piper slapped him. "Shut up, Leo! This is serious."

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

** "**But you didn't wa-" Apollo started to say. He was cut off when Athena yelled, "As interesting as everyone's commentary is, we'll never finish the books at this rate!"

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**Am I a troubled kid?**

"Yes," smirked Thalia and Nico at the same time.

**Yeah. You could say that.**

"See?" said Thalia. "Even he agrees."

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan—twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"Sounds fun," said Athena wistfully.

"Sounds like torture," said Poseidon.

**I know—it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were.**

Everyone laughed at the similarity between Poseidon and Percy.

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

"YOU SLEEP IN CLASS!?" yelled Athena.

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

**Boy was I wrong.**

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary war cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

Everyone burst into laughter.

"What were you aiming at?" asked Jason.

"Um… I don't really know…" replied Percy.

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that…Well, you get the idea.**

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

** "**EWW!" screamed Aphrodite.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated.**

"You think so highly of him," smirked Reyna.

**He must have been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

Everyone laughed.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

"Finally!" said Ares. "Some action!"

Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

"Stupid satyr," muttered Ares.

"You totally should've! It would've been hilarious!" Nico laughed.

"NO KILLING MORTALS!" screamed Hera.

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

Hades eyes widened as he realized who the monster was, and he scooted his 'guest chair' away from the other gods.

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

Frank laughed. "She _really_ didn't like you!"

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"Way to blow your cover Goat Boy," muttered Thalia.

Annabeth turned to Percy. "Was he really _that _obvious?"

Percy nodded.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you just shut up?"**

Artemis frowned. He shouldn't talk to any girl like that.

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"Of course it did," laughed Nico.

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

Several gods groaned.

Apollo muttered, "It _had _to be that one?"

Artemis smacked him. "You weren't even there, idiot!"

**"Yes." Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because…"**

**"Well…" I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and—"**

"GOD!?" shouted several people.

"Hey, I know the difference now, believe me," Percy defended himself.

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

**"Titan," I corrected myself. "And…he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

Several gods groaned at the memory.

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

**"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continues, "and the gods won."**

**Some snickers from the group.**

"Why were they laughing?" asked Reyna. "You got it right."

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss. Bobofit's excellent question, dos this matter in real life?"**

"Busted," said Jason. Percy started laughing.

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

Everyone laughed. "Jason!" said Leo. "You think like a satyr!" Everyone laughed harder while Jason tried not to look embarrassed.

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

"Horse ears," corrected Piper.

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lean us back outside?"**

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other and acting like doofuses.**

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything."**

"They're a lot older than that," muttered Annabeth.

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life. No—he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

"Sounds like fun," said Athena.

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

"He probably was," muttered Jason.

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

"What're you fighting about now, Pops?" asked Apollo.

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers.**

**Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

Everyone looked at Hermes. "She's not mine!" he said defensively.

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**

"I second that," smirked Nico. Percy just glared at him.

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

Everyone burst out laughing. "That's our Goat Boy," Thalia said.

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

Most of the girls cooed. Annabeth reached down and squeezed Percy's hand reassuringly.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

Hephaestus and Leo both sat deep in thought, as if thinking of how to build one.

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

Annabeth looked upwith a scary mad expression on her face. "That no-good, stupid-" Percy clamped a hand over her mouth to keep her from saying anything she might regret.

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

"You have the weirdest brain, Percy!" laughed Nico.

**I tried to stay cool.**

**The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

**I didn't know what they were talking about.**

**All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

**I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

"NO!" shouted Hermes. "NEVER guess your punishment!"

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"Told ya so," said Hermes.

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."**

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You—will—stay—here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

"Doubt that scared her," muttered Ares.

Percy stood up facing the war god and glared hard at him. Ares shrunk back in his throne, shaking, with a scared expression on his face. Percy smiled and sat down.

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

"Way to go, Chiron," muttered Thalia.

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop. But apparently that wasn't the plan. I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman for us, the gallery was empty. Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing.**

**I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil. She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**

Everyone laughed.

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

Athena glared at Percy. A hard-covered book fell in front of him labeled _Tom Sawyer. _Percy groaned.

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

Poseidon jumped at Hades. "YOU SENT A FURY AFTER MY SON!" he yelled.

Zeus leapt up from his throne and shouted, "POSEIDON, YOU BROKE THE OATH!"

"I ATE HERMES'S CUPCAKE!" screamed Apollo.

Artemis slapped him. "What was that for?"

"I thought everyone was supposed to shout," he replied.

"YOU ATE MY CUPCAKE!?" yelled Hermes.

"SHUT UP!" shouted Artemis.

"See. Now you're shouting to," said Apollo.

"Idiots," muttered Artemis.

**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air. Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes. My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword. She snarled, "Die, honey!" And she flew straight at me.**

Poseidon, who was now sitting on his throne, was pale and sweaty.

"Dad," said Percy, "I'm right here. You don't need to worry."

Poseidon didn't look any less worried.

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword. **

Everyone laughed. "How does that come naturally?" asked Nico. Percy shrugged.

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water.**

**Hisss!**

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

"Ah, the mist," muttered Athena.

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

"Magic mushrooms?" asked Thalia. "Really, Percy?"

**Had I imagined the whole thing? I went back outside. It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

**I said, "Who?"**

**"Our teacher. Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about. She just rolled her eyes and turned away. I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"He needs to take lying lessons," said Hermes.

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious." Thunder boomed overhead. I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved. I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperon. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

"Yeah," laughed Nico, "Were you feeling alright Percy?"

"See, Chiron knows how to lie!" said Hermes.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN/ Thanks for reviewing! It means a lot to me.**

**Eragon0123: I was planning on doing the entire series, but I totally agree. There are a lot of fics about the first couple of books and hardly any for The Last Olympian.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HOO.**

After more arguing and a couple of cows, Annabeth reluctantly gave Hera custody of the book.

**Chapter two: Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death**

Poseidon paled. "Please tell me you won't be in too much danger in these books," he begged Percy.

"Okay," Percy replied. "I'm hardly ever in life-threatening situations."

"Now tell me the truth."

"My life is almost always in danger."

Poseidon groaned.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly.**

**This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

**It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

**Almost.**

**But Grover couldn't fool me.**

Thalia laughed. "Someone should really teach him how to lie."

**When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, and then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

"Even Percy could tell he was lying!" exclaimed Nico.

**Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum.**

"Yeah. Just killing a Kindly One," scoffed Annabeth.

Frank looked awed. "Your first monster was a Fury and you didn't think to mention it?"

"Hey," Percy tapped his brain, "I'm an amnesiac, remember? Besides, were you even listening to the first chapter?"

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

"Uncle P, why are you so mad?" asked Apollo. Poseidon just shrugged.

"I don't know. This is in the future, remember?" he replied.

"Oh. Yeah."

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs.**

"You made F's in school?" asked Athena. "Don't you know how important your grades are?"

**I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

"It means-" began Athena, who was cut off by Poseidon.

"No one cares! Keep reading, please."

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

**I was homesick.**

"But I thought you said you liked that school," commented Nico.

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

Percy's face contorted into a fierce scowl and Annabeth took his hand to comfort him.

**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods outside my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange.**

Everyone laughed.

"Tough luck, Goat Boy," said Thalia.

**I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

**I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for.**

"Aw, trying to impress Chiron?" sneered Octavian.

**I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. **

"YOU THREW A BOOK?" roared Athena.

**Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon,**

"He definitely does now," mumbled Annabeth.

Poseidon paled again. "What is that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"You'll see," replied Percy.

**or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

Aphrodite shuddered.

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. **_**I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**_

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

"Good," mumbled Athena.

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said,**

**"... worried about Percy, sir."**

"Aren't we all?" said Annabeth with a smile.

**I froze.**

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper,**

"Really?" asked Nico, thinking back to the time he eavesdropped on Bianca and Zoe in the pavilion.

"I dare you not to eavesdrop when you hear your best friend talking about you to a teacher," said Percy, defensively.

"Fine," mumbled Nico.

**but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

**I inched closer.**

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too—"**

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

"A lot more," said Annabeth. "Don't worry," she added to spare her boyfriend's feelings. "You're better now." She kissed him on the cheek.

**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice dead line— "**

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**

"Are you still enjoying it?" asked Thalia.

**"Sir, he saw her... ."**

**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again."**

Thalia looked sad and muttered, "Not his fault…"

**Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"**

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

"NO!" shouted Hermes. A lot of people gave him questioning looks. "Never give away your position," he stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

"I can't believe he was out of his wheelchair!" exclaimed Annabeth.

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

**A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, and then moved on.**

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

"It must suck for satyrs to have to take exams over and over again," said Piper.

**"Don't remind me."**

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

"Of course not," said Percy, which caused Athena to frown.

**I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

**"Just... tired."**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.**

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

"Because you were in danger, Seaweed Brain," said Annabeth.

"When am I not?" laughed Percy. That didn't make Poseidon feel much better.

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,**

All the demi-gods groaned. "That sounds like torture to me, and I'm the daughter of the wisdom goddess," said Annabeth. "I can't believe Chiron made you take that!"

**my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."**

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

Annabeth had that scary mad look back on her face. She could've happily punched the red-head right then.

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

**My eyes stung.**

Octavian snickered. Annabeth squeezed Percy's hand to make him feel better, as heat flooded his face from embarrassment.

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

**"Right," I said, trembling.**

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"**

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."**

**"Percy—"**

**But I was already gone.**

Percy hung his head, his face still flushed with shame. Annabeth pecked him on the cheek. He lifted his head to look at her, and she kissed him on the lips. Aphrodite cooed, while Nico made gagging motions, and then waved his hand at Hera to start reading again.

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

Poseidon raised an eyebrow and cleared his throat.

"Hey," Percy said, defensively, "I didn't know at the time."

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had,**

"Of course he did," muttered Annabeth.

**so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen.**

**Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

Annabeth laughed. "You probably gave him a heart attack!" she exclaimed.

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**

**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers …"**

Thalia said, "Just give it up, Goat Boy."

**"Grover—"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**

"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar," said Nico.

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**

Everyone laughed, while Thalia shouted, "Take cover! Nico's thinking like Percy now!"

**His ears turned pink.**

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.**

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, **

"I wonder who's decision that was," said Annabeth, glaring pointedly at Dionysus.

"Well, I have to have some way to torture them," complied the god.

**but I finally made out something like:**

_**Grover Underwood**_

_**Keeper**_

_**Half-Blood Hill**_

_**Long Island, New York**_

_**(800) 009-0009**_

**"What's Half—"**

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

"Why not?" asked Annabeth.

"He seemed so much more normal. Plus, he was actually friends with me," replied Percy.

**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**

**He nodded. "Or...or if you need me."**

**"Why would I need you?"**

Several demigods rolled their eyes.

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

"Of course it did," muttered Nico.

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."**

**I stared at him.**

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me.**

**And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.**

**"Grover," I said, "What exactly are you protecting me from?"**

** "**That's what I'd like to know," said a worried Poseidon.

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs.**

"Eww!" chorused several girls.

**The driver cursed and steered the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**

"I have a feeling something bad is about to happen," said Hazel warily.

"You'll see," replied Percy.

"I'm really getting tired of that answer."

**We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars.**

**On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

Poseidon paled, and several other gods and demigods had worried looks plastered on their faces.

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

Annabeth stifled a gasp.

"What's wrong?" whispered Percy.

"Blue…" she relied in a hushed tone. "Just like Luke's eyes!"

Percy's eyes widened with realization.

"Care to enlighten us?" asked Thalia.

Percy shook his head and wrapped an arm around Annabeth.

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

"Not funny," said Thalia and Nico at the same time, with nervous expressions on their faces.

"Aww," said Percy. "I think they actually care about me!"

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears.**

**I heard Grover catch his breath.**

**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

"Yes, good," muttered Poseidon. "Just get on the bus."

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."**

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**

"No!" exclaimed Poseidon, while Thalia rolled her eyes and said, "Of course you did."

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic.**

Several gods and demigods looked at Percy in wonder. "How are you still alive?" asked Reyna. Percy shrugged and pointed at Annabeth.

"Probably because of her," he said. Annabeth blushed, and Percy pecked her on the cheek. Several girls cooed.

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

"Still not funny," said Nico.

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

**The passengers cheered.**

Poseidon rolled his eyes. "Nice timing," he said.

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

"Everything," said several people at once.

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

"No, they're much worse," mumbled Nico.

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds.**

**He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older.**

"I guess you're a little less stupid than I give you credit for," said Thalia.

"Thanks. That means a lot to me," Percy said sarcastically.

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

"It won't be," said Thalia.

"It almost was," said a sad-looking Percy.

"What?" asked Thalia.

"It's probably in the book. You'll see."

**"What last time?"**

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

"Like that's going to happen," said Annabeth.

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

**No answer.**

**"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

"That's the end of the chapter," said Hera.

"Anyone wanna make a bet?" asked Hermes. Dionysus lifted his head from his magazine at the word 'bet'.

"What kind of a bet?" the god of wine cautiously asked.

"Whether Percy stays with the goat or not."

"Alright. 10 drachmas Perry ditches the satyr."

"You're on," said Hermes, smugly.

**R&R please!**


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